Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for registering an access point through a WiFi network using information obtained from a common device in a cellular-WiFi convergence system.
Related Art
With the advent of ubiquitous environments, demand for receiving a seamless service, at any time and any place, by using a device, is increasing rapidly. The next-generation communication system can utilize a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs) to make the communication system accessible at any time and any place and to provide efficient performance. Examples of RAT for the next-generation communication system include, for instance, the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE), 3GPP LTE-Advanced, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), and IEEE 802.16 (WiMax, WiBro).
The next-generation communication system can integrate a plurality of RATs. Each individual entity of a plurality of RATs constituting the next generation communication system can exchange information with each other and accordingly provide an optimized communication system for the user of the next-generation communication system. A specific RAT among the plurality of RATs constituting the next-generation communication system can operate as a main RAT system while the other RATs can operate as sub-RAT systems. In other words, the main RAT system mostly provides communication services for the user of the next-generation communication system, while the sub-RAT systems play the tole of supporting the main RAT system. In most cases, a cellular system of the 3GPP LTE(-A) or the IEEE 802.16 providing comparatively large communication coverage acts as the main RAT system, whereas a Wi-Fi system providing relatively small coverage can act as the sub-RAT system.
In the next-generation communication system comprising a plurality of RATs, a main RAT system needs to know the entities of sub-RAT systems operating within the coverage of the communication system. For example, in case the main RAT system is a cellular system and the sub-RAT system is a Wi-Fi system, a cellular node, which can be a cellular base station or a cellular controller, needs to know what access points (APs) are present within its communication coverage.
Therefore, there needs a method for forming an optimal communication system where sub-RAT system entities inform a managing device (for example, a managing server, a cellular node, a cellular base station, or a cellular controller) of their information so that a main RAT system can efficiently obtain information of the sub-RAT system entities operating within coverage of the main RAT system.
Also, there needs a method for the second RAT system entities to obtain information of the main RAT system in a more efficient manner.